With Bana being exploited by her mother to push for World War Three, is a new child exploitation in the lurk in Syria?

EAST GHOUTA, Syria – With Bana al-Abed becoming the face of propaganda against Russia’s intervention and the Syrian Army in Aleppo, it appears the same PR stunt is being replicated in East Ghouta in Damascus countryside.

The then-seven year old Bana reached stardom on Twitter, getting a verified account and hundreds of thousands of followers. This was while she was residing in jihadist-held eastern Aleppo while the Syrian Army were conducting operations to liberate the entire city from terrorist forces.

Unfortunately, Bana, who does even speak English, had Tweets under her name written that called for World War Three and other acts of aggression.

Of course she did not make these Tweets, they were made by her English-speaking mother. Her popularity rose so much that even JK Rowling, the billionaire author of the Harry Potter franchise, wrote a biography of Bana.

Now with Bana safely residing in Turkey and no longer needed to be exploited by her mother, and international media and politicians, it appears that a new propaganda effort is being set up as the Syrian Army prepare to liberate East Ghouta, another jihadist-held in Damascus countryside.

It remains to be seen how international media will exploit Muhammad Najem (seen in the photo above), but we can expect it once the operation begins in the coming days.

Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. He has an MA in International Relations and is interested in Great Power Rivalry as well as the International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East and Latin America.